Jorge Mas Canosa hasn't reached his goal yet, but he may be the world's most influential Cuban exile

HE'S BEEN CALLED BOTH A dictatorial "monster" and a modern-day Jose Marti, | determined to vanquish Fidel Castro just as Marti battled Spain to free Cuba a century ago. Miami millionaire Jorge Mas Canosa is perhaps the most influential Cuban outside Havana. Over the past decade, he has built the Cuban American National Foundation, a lobby group representing Miami's Cuban exiles, into a muscular bullyboy capable of swaying U.S. foreign policy and pressuring governments from Moscow to Mexico City.

But for Mas, that is not enough. He dreams of a house overlooking the bay in his native Santiago de Cuba. He...